HOW TO DETERMINE IF MSG IS IN YOUR FOOD

Food manufacturers are not stupid, and they've caught on to the fact that people like you want to avoid eating this nasty food additive. As a result, do you think they responded by removing MSG from their products? Well, a few may have, but most of them just tried to "clean" their labels. In other words, they tried to hide the fact that MSG is an ingredient. How do they do this? By using names that you would never associate with MSG.

You see, it's required by the FDA that food manufacturers list the ingredient "monosodium glutamate" on food labels, but they do not have to label ingredients that contain free glutamic acid, even though it's the main component of MSG. There are over 40 labeled ingredients that contain glutamic acid, but you'd never know it just from their names alone. Further, in some foods glutamic acid is formed during processing and, again, food labels give you no way of knowing for sure.

TIPS FOR KEEPING MSG OUT OF YOUR DIET

In general, if a food is processed you can assume it contains MSG (or one of its pseudo-ingredients). So if you stick to a whole, fresh foods diet, you can pretty much guarantee that you'll avoid this toxin. The other place where you'll need to watch out for MSG is in restaurants. You can ask your server which menu items are MSG-free, and request that no MSG be added to your meal, but of course the only place where you can be entirely sure of what's added to your food is in your own kitchen. To be on the safe side, you should also know what ingredients to watch out for on packaged foods.

HERE IS A LIST OF INGREDIENTS THAT ALWAYS CONTAIN MSG:

• Autolyzed Yeast
• Calcium Caseinate
• Gelatin
• Glutamate
• Glutamic Acid
• Hydrolyzed Protein
• Monopotassium Glutamate
• Monosodium Glutamate
• Sodium Caseinate
• Textured Protein
• Yeast Extract
• Yeast Food
• Yeast Nutrient

THESE INGREDIENTS OFTEN CONTAIN MSG OR CREATE MSG DURING PROCESSING:

• Flavours and Flavourings
• Seasonings
• Natural Flavours and Flavourings
• Natural Pork Flavouring
• Natural Beef Flavouring
• Natural Chicken Flavouring
• Soy Sauce
• Soy Protein Isolate
• Soy Protein
• Bouillon
• Stock
• Broth
• Malt Extract
• Malt Flavouring
• Barley Malt
• Carrageenan
• Maltodextrin
• Pectin
• Corn Starch
• Citric Acid
• Powdered Milk
• Anything Protein-Fortified
• Anything Ultra-Pasteurized

CHOOSING TO BE MSG-FREE

Making a decision to avoid MSG in your diet as much as possible is a wise choice for nearly everyone. Admittedly, it does take a bit more planning and time in the kitchen to prepare food at home, using fresh, locally grown ingredients. But knowing that your food is pure and free of toxic additives like MSG will make it well worth it. Plus, choosing whole foods will ultimately give you better flavour and more health value than any MSG-laden processed food you could buy at your supermarket.